How would you develop your third world country?

Okay, so the country you rule is about the size of the Congo, and you’ve just recently achieved independence, how would you go about

Electrification

Farming

Industrialisation process

Military Expenditure(would you expand?)

Government, Politics and Social science (what political ideas would you permit to be spread?) Would there be a constitution?

Foreign Relations

Democratic processes

Roads and Town Planning

Education, Religion

Environmental protection and Human rights

I believe that countries should go through a gradual learning process of democracy and that newly formed countries should have a strong center of government control with quite strict regulations, this would provide an effective infrastructure for later governments and people in power to use as a template.
Take the middle ages for example, stong unelected governments weren’t perfect but they provided the gradual changes that made way for democratically elected governments.

For me I would chose an authoritarian goverment which needs to take control of the economic actions of the country to be the effective leader of the newly independen state. (instead of being a puppet to corporations)
What would you do?

This is an enormously complex undertaking. There are complete disciplines that deal with facets of this issue.

There are no answers or solutions here. Only approaches. Social dynamic, historical and cultural forces, ‘educatedness’ of the populace, internal and external dependencies all come into play.

Let me take India as an example (slightly bigger than Congo :D).

We have a (over)population of 1 billion. “Official” literacy rate of 52%. 18 official languages (maybe more) and a greater number of ethnic divisions. A longstanding dispute with Pakistan. Internal crises in the South, a wasted land in the state of Bihar, rebel movements in Orissa and some of the Northeastern states. Political parties with self-serving agendas of their own. Inciting communal violence through controlled outbreaks. Rampant corruption. Inability to make radical decisions because of cultural and social inertia (perceived or real). There are about a thousand more factors.

I think you have to start with education and the rest will take care of itself.

I think the first thing we need is a bit of money from outside the country. Good way to jumpstart. I’d invite the US in for an army base. And maybe a sweatshop or two. It’s still better than what we can do right now.

I’d take that cash, and while still trying to maintain a strong national identity, sink much of it into education… and infrastructure. The thing to be careful of here is to make sure that the educated people don’t up and leave to better places, which is why the national identity is important.

Specifically, I’d start with farming first, then electrification and telephones. Then I’d go for the roads.

Nuh-uh. See the former Soviet republics? Decent education, but still lots of bad stuff going on. Widespread poverty, decaying infrastructure. It’s getting better, but very gradually.

You also have to take into consideration the natural resources of the country and it’s environment. If it is surrounded by hostile states, if you have no military you might just be screwed. If it is a state with lots of ethnic tensions, again, you may have problems if economic distribution is unequal between ethnicities. Lots of natural resources are better than a desert wasteland.

It’s just too hard to figure out without more information.

OK, first off, I’d legalize marijuana- if for no other reason than it would keep the populace mellow.

Farming- agriculture would be locally based, with the farmers themselves deciding what to grow- I think they would be smart enough to know what they would need to plant and how much of it to feed and clothe themselves and to sell to the nearby cities, and excess could be exported. Organic methods of fertilization and pest control would be encouraged.

Electrification- again locally based. Hydroelectric, solar, wind power, burning biomass instead of fossil fuels. I would not have a massive nationwide grid- I wouldn’t want to have problems like one big power station goes down and takes out the entire Pacific coast. Individuals would be encouraged to build their own solar or wind powered generators. Annual national contests for inventors to encourage the cheapest, cleanest, and most efficient means of producing power for homes and communities. Local prizes awarded for the householder who created the coolest power generator for his/her own home.

Education- government acedemic education- the three ‘R’s’ provided up until the fourth grade, but by the time they got done, the yunguns would have an education equivalent to probably eighth grade in the U.S. public schools. Vocational and technical training would also be available at government expense. I figure, by not educating them all the way through high school, there would be fewer kids in the school system, so there would be more resources (teachers, money for textbooks and other educational materials) for each individual child. Since agriculture and electricity would be locally based, the cost of food and power would be low enough that a high percentage of the population could afford to send their kids to private school for higher education. For those families who couldn’t afford it, intensive (government approved) home-schooling materials would be available at low cost, and families could form home-schooling coopratives in their local communities, with individual parents teaching subjects that they had expertise in. Whether an individual was qualified to teach a particular subject would be determined by standardized testing. I would also have a very extensive library system, so that bright youngsters could have access to, ye gods, actual books. I think that, given the opportunity, kids and young adults could educate themselves in their fields of interest. (Yeah, I have more faith than most people in the individual human being.) Wanna learn to operate computer software? Tutorials available at the local library. Instead of requiring a degree in most fields, employers would find qualified employees by testing an individual’s knowledge in a particular field, thus self-educated or home-schooled people would be able to find employment in areas that they have a good working knowledge of without having to have a piece of paper that said they sat in a classroom for two or four years.

Industrialization- again, locally based, but the government would pay “start-up” costs for factories in communities where they did not already exist. These factories would be owned and run by people in the local community. No big corporations, please- the wages of the workers would be more than sufficient to cover basic cost of living while the prices of the goods produced would be relatively low, since the company would not be paying multi-million whatever the local currency was salaries to high-level executives and having high overhead due to the costs of purchasing/leasing buildings in far-flung regions. The companies would be free to sell any excess goods produced to whoever they wanted to, foriegn or domestic, once the needs of their own local communities were met. Hell, they could make a killing selling their stuff on the Internet.

Environmental policy- well, with the electrification and industrialization policies I’ve just described, I think the environment would take care of itself, as these policies would tend to be very environmentally friendly.

Forign relations/military- more than adequate for local defense. My imaginary country would not have a policy of military expansion, but, hey, if you want to try to invade, more power to you. My well trained and well equipped military would kick your ass all the way back to your capital, and then we’d take over and install the same benevolent dictatorship in your former country that we have in ours. Every male over the age of sixteen able to bear arms would be considered a member of the country’s militia, with each man taking a turn of service on a rotating basis. Think Switzerland. Women would be included in the military on a volunteer basis. Women of childbearing age and youths under the age of twenty would not be allowed in combat situations. Sexist? Yes. Do I care? No.

Constitution? Dunno, but there would be a formal declaration of basic human rights that the government would have to abide by. Local issues would be determined by democratic vote. National government would be a dictatorship, with a Parliamentary body that would serve in an advisory capacity, with representatives from each province bringing the “petitions of the people” if you will, before the Monarch/Despot/Whatever.

Haven’t thought out the rest of it, but these are the basics.

beg for money from other countries.

Farming localized? Certainly, but the locals are probably not using the eco-friendly, labor mildly-intensive, but much more efficient than sticking stuff in the ground farming methods. Rotate crops and fields, to start with, so the ground can maximally refresh. You can probably get another crop a year without much in the way of heavy machinery.

So, yes, let them choose, but educate them first.

Mass-executions. Less people, less problems.

Seriously? Infrastructure, food, internal secuirty. And be friendly to the western nations. REAL friendly. Make my country safe enough for foreign investment and development, and valuable enough to them that NATO won’t leave me hanging if the esht hits the fan.

I shall seek my people’s dreams. I shall spend the time and effort to make them know that I want government to serve them. And I will abolish the entire concept of wealth as a reward for the members of Government. The average income of the nation will be the pay rate for the servants of the nation. If we do it right, we can get a raise. Those wishing to become wealthy shall find other work. Government will not be the business of the wealthy.

First we will feed the children.

Then we will provide education for them, and for all that want it.
We will require them to teach others what they have learned, as payment for their lessons. I will instill this as the first lesson for my people. Nothing is free. We shall give what we have, and we shall earn what we do not have to give, so that our people and our children might make our nation stronger. And when our nation is strong, it can bring us to our dreams.

Corruption and crime will be my first great enemies. I do not favor many laws, but I will favor very strict ones, where laws are needed. And the police who are convicted of disobeying laws will be punished twice. Judges, serving legislators, or appointed members of the executive branch of government who are convicted of disobeying laws will be punished three times. If I disobey the law, I shall be banished from this nation forever, not to be named, or aided by any citizen.

I will establish that the army is not the police. The army will be no larger than it needs to be to defend our people from our enemies. The army will have no function in civil matters within our borders; unless armed insurrection occurs. No person who holds office in civilian government can ever hold military officer’s rank again, except that the head of state will be the Commander of all military forces.

The law shall recognize no right of race, or tribe, or gender. There shall be only citizens. Children will be the first responsibility of the state, in all things. Although the parent is the child’s greatest need, the child is not the property of the parent. The state shall not seek to direct the parent’s obligations, but the need of the child shall be the ultimate responsibility of the state, not the sanctity of parenthood.

If our country is poor, we must face that fact, and seek to change it. But it must be our country, and our changes. The great nations of the world will be welcome to our nation. But this land shall belong to the people, and its wealth shall be the wealth of the people, not the wealth of those who take it. We will not be harvested, like a field. We will not be the tools of any nation’s plans for military adventures. Where we are respected, we shall make alliances, and we shall honor those alliances. But we will not engage in war for economic gain, unless the people set aside their current leader, and choose another.

I shall serve for as long as my people express their approval in an annual affirmation by vote. When that shall fail to show that a majority of citizens wish me to continue to serve, I shall initiate an open selection of nominees for my replacement, and those shall be presented to the electorate within six months. Among them the two most widely accepted shall be offered for a final election, within a year. That vote shall be final, and a new head of state shall serve.

God bless New Fredonia.

Triskadecamus
President elect of New Fredonia

Education - isn’t everything, but probably the best investment

Industrialization - mark those raw materials up by turning them in finished goods.

Fix corruption - NOTHING will change without this. And its pretty much synonymous with ‘third-world’, so I’d say it’s a pretty solid step.